Cognitive Daily reports nearly every day on fascinating peer-reviewed developments in cognition from the most respected scientists in the field.
This week's Casual Friday is about mentors. We're curious who constitutes the most important influence on our readers, and whether we can identify any patterns in the results. So we've created a brief study that we hope will answer our questions. Simple as that.
There are just a few questions, so the survey should only take a couple minutes to complete. There is no limit on the number of respondents. You have until Thursday, May 8 to respond. Then don't forget to check back on Friday, May 9 for the results!
Comments
You might get some odd answers from the last question (regarding strength of belief) from some atheists. I had a hard time trying to figure out how to grade my lack of belief is something... maybe it was just a wording issue, but putting "0" made sense even though I'm not at all uncertain; but then putting "10" could make sense too. Not sure how much is matters for your purposes.
Posted by: Wisaakah | May 2, 2008 5:34 PM
I did scratch my head over the last question. I'm an atheist -- how in the world could I rate the strength of a belief that I by definition do not hold? I considered putting a 5 as some average neither/nor answer, but that would have made it look as if I half believed in something. Also considered 10 as a measure of being a 'strong' atheist, but then again it would be an oxymoron to be a believing non-believer. So in the end, I put 0.
Posted by: Jato | May 2, 2008 5:59 PM
There was no category for 'bloggers'! (There was an 'other' category, of course, but still.) I get most of my guidance, moral and otherwise, from reading other bloggers. As mentors go, as a group they're not real warm and personal, and the interaction is mostly one-directional. But one learns to make do.
Posted by: Kurt | May 3, 2008 9:57 PM
sorry if i did something stupid like didn't read the directions, but i had a really hard time figuring out when to put "not applicable" versus a low rating. obviously i would put not applicable for spouse since i don't have one, but what about for other family members? i don't consider them to have really influenced me at all, but they do exist...
Posted by: gs | May 4, 2008 12:17 AM
In my case, I just rated very high my "belief" in atheism... but anyway, it felt weird xD
Also, since my most important mentor in my career and other aspects of my life (a teacher) is also my boss now (see the link for the place I work on, LOL), I had to give both categories consistent ratings, because they apply to the same individual. I guess that in other cases of overlap (teacher-parent, parent-boss, etc) there will be a slight bias for some people.
Posted by: Remis | May 4, 2008 3:18 AM
gs: I'll probably end up coding "not applicable" the same as "not important." I just included that option so that everyone would have a choice that applied to them.
Everyone: I agree that "belief" in atheism is kind of an odd way of putting it.
Mainly this was a question for non-atheists, but I thought it would be interesting to see how atheists responded. Wouldn't a rating of 5 on the belief scale of atheism suggest you're actually an agnostic? 0 and 10 on the scale of belief in atheism are in some ways equivalent, aren't they?
Posted by: Dave Munger | May 4, 2008 7:45 AM
I'm an agnostic, and I rated the strength of my belief as a 10.
I feel very strongly there is not sufficient data available, nor do I have sufficient powers of comprehension, to put forth anything concrete about God. This view is very important to me, so it felt right to rate it a 10.
Also, it seems to me an atheist should answer based on how strongly they believe there isn't a God, but I could see more nuanced answers possible.
Posted by: becca | May 4, 2008 11:33 PM
I figured answering 9 on the "belief in atheism" scale would help distinguish regular atheists from New Atheists......
*ducks*
Posted by: minusRusty | May 5, 2008 7:05 PM
I gave myself a "5" for atheism. When asked about my religion, I tell people "atheist," and I'm not changing my mind about it, but I don't consider it an important part of my life or personal belief system. I just... don't believe certain stuff.
I also wasn't sure how to describe my long-term partner (not spouse) -- he's certainly more than my friend, but not a family member, so I called him "Other." I wish the "spouse" category had been called "spouse/partner" to allow for those of us who are not married, or in some cases, cannot get married.
Posted by: Laura | May 7, 2008 1:15 PM